el america brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century and often provide content for current events. check c-span.org/history for schedule information. >> the barbed wire and guard towers are gone, but the memories come flooding back for so many people who, until today had lost such a big part of their childhood. for many released after the war they buried the memories and with it, the history of this camp. now more than 60 years later -- >> this sunday on the only family internment camp during world war ii in crystal city, texas and what she says was the real reason for this camp. >> the government comes to the father and says, we have a deal for you. we will reunite you with your families and the crystal city

internment camp if you will agree to go voluntarily. then i discovered what the real secret of the camp was. they also had to agree to voluntarily repatriate to germany and japan if the government decided they needed to be repatriated. so, the truth of the matter is that the crystal city camp was humanely administered by the ins , but the special war divisions in the department of state used it as roosevelt's primary prisoner exchange. it was the center of roosevelt's prisoner exchange program. >> sunday at 8 p.m. on c-span's q1 day. >> all weekend long american history tv be featuring greensboro, north carolina. television commentator edward r.

murrow was born in greensboro. he was known for criticizing senator mccarthy and his catchphrase "did night and good luck -- "good night and good luck." >> the international civil rights center and museum opened in greensboro february 1, 2010. museum tells the story of the sit-ins that happened in the city that launched a wave of sit-ins across the south. >> what happened here in 1960, february 1, four young men from north carolina amt state -- amt -- north carolina a&t state

university chose that day to make a stand, really to take a seat so that the rest of us would be able to do that. so they took a stand against jim crow, against segregation, against whites-only access to public accommodations and to being seen as a first-class citizen. they came here to this woolworth building and this lunch counter to sit down and be treated like a first-class citizen and be served against their policies and practices. this is the actual lunch counter area that's been preserved. some seats have been taken out in other areas that are at thing smithsonian and other musics. the four young men that sat in here have talked to us about around where they sat, so a lot of the things you will see here are the actual advertisements around the different menu items they offered and the prices. these four were franklin mccain, ezell blair, joseph mcneal, and david richmond.

they were freshmen at north carolina a&t state university, a historically black university here. they came to the store, sat at the lunch counter and asked to order i believe some coffee and a piece of pie. the response was really mixed. "you boys go on from here," i think another waitress was saying, "we don't serve colored people here.” the word spread quickly the next day that this was going to be ongoing and that other people were wanting to get involved. other adults were showing up there were other students that said we want to be part of this. students from bennett college and what is now uncg but was at the time women's college. other students who wanted to get involved and stand behind this brave, courageous step. they weighed the consequences. they talked about being afraid but they also talked about what i would say that courage many is not the lack of fear, it's doing what is right in the face of fear. it's the way they decided to finally come here and take the

step that day. so they talked about the community, talked about law enforcement, they talked about the police, what would be their reaction. they talked about the dangers, the consequences, their futures. they had been advised, counseled, encouraged, trained about what was going to happen to them here. they would go through sort of mock experiences where people are going to be calling you names, spitting on you. people may throw food on you those kind of things. people may be chanting, getting in your face, there may be some physical experience you may have with someone. so there were mixed reactions in greensboro to the sit-in. a lot of people felt like this is just the way things are and up keep the peace, you just accept that that's the way things are. i think other people feel like this isn't right so there were mixed reactions to this.

there are some people, white and black, that encouraged and said it's about time and lent their support. other people said you're just starting trouble, this isn't good, it's just going to create more tension around here so there were mixed reactions to that. i think there were around the country. so the sit-ins sort of sparked this dialogue and discussion and frustration about what it is that we're going to do? there were requests made that while we're in negotiations if we could just not have the demonstrations. i think the negotiations went on for some time and all parties agreed that that he would not participate in the demonstrations at that point and then the decision was made to desegregate the lunch counter. once you set a precedent like that, it gets to be used as leverage to change people's minds and practices. those things are catalysts to

start that domino effect of equality and justice. the fact that this happened in greensboro gives us an incredible immediate sense of how to interpret and understand what we're going through today. to be able to come to this museum, to go on the tour, to look at the different exhibits to hear the re-enactments, to be able to see the photographs and to have an incredibly personal experience, a very compelling, provocative experience here gives us the courage to say what must we do going forward? i think this place provides the contextual information to understand why do we have racial inequities today? why do we have achievement gaps? why do we have overrepresentation in our criminal justice and juvenile justice systems? so we have this place right here where we can put our hands on it and we can come and be not only in that physical place but in

that interpretive space. the actions that those young men took on that day and the fact that we were able to memorize that here in this museum gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves, what is my lunch counter issue? what would i be demonstrating? or if those young men were here today, what would they say societally needs to be addressed and what would be the strategy for that? >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring greensboro, north carolina. our cities tour staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more at c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3.

>> the part where -- the barge wire and the guard towers are gone, but the memories come back for so many people who, until today have lost such a big part of their childhood. for many released after the war, they buried the memories. now 60 years later -- >> tonight on cue and day the only family internment camp in crystal city texas. >> the government says we have a deal for you. we will reunite you with your families in the crystal city internment camp, the family internment camp, if you will agree to go voluntarily. then they learned what the secret of the camp was. you had to